


You're not fooling anyone

by sonatine



Category: Agent Carter (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Carterson, Cartson, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-22
Updated: 2015-02-22
Packaged: 2018-03-14 14:46:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3414635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sonatine/pseuds/sonatine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The eyes and ears of the SSR notice a change in the office</p>
            </blockquote>





	You're not fooling anyone

Dooley saw the change immediately. When they returned from Russia, there was a strange new entente between them: cordial and cautious at first. He saw how Carter’s eyes would flick to Thompson after Dooley gave them orders, or how Thompson would watch Carter leave a room, as if she was a magnet dragging him along.

 

Sousa noticed next, when they broke into room 3E in The Griffith looking for Peggy – how Jack caressed that damn brick wall like he was stroking a lover’s cheek. ( _For real? Get it together, man._ )

 

The scientists noticed how Agent Carter and Agent Thompson looked to each other before searching the lab for what Leviathan had taken, how they would privately consult one other in a single look before both moving forward with a tacit _go ahead_.

 

Jarvis pretended not to notice when Jack Thompson’s face broke along with Peggy’s voice as she explained, “I suppose I just wanted a second chance at keeping him safe.” He felt it would be uncouth to bring perhaps as-yet-undiscovered-emotions to light. He knew from personal experience that sometimes you hit the ground before you realize that you’re falling.

 

The new chief was fairly baffled at Agent Thompson’s insistence on checking in with Agent Carter systematically throughout his cases. He didn’t lack confidence or experience. Maybe it was some kind of tick. Or like a lucky charm. Sometimes Thompson would lean back in his chair—feet propped up on the desk and arms folded across his chest—and stare into space, working his jaw as he worked through a thorny case. Sometimes he would stare into space, in the general direction of Carter, and periodically start, “Maybe the girlfriend—”

 

“No,” she would say, not looking up from her work.

 

“If the driver’s trip was shorter than he said—”

 

“It was, but still wouldn’t give him enough time.”

 

And when he finally untangled it, he would stand, pace around the room, stoop over Agent Carter’s desk and tell her his theory, and then rush out to confirm his suspicions—oftentimes dragging her along. It was tedious and a waste of manpower, but the Chief had other things to worry about. As long as his coffee pot remained 30% full, it wasn’t pressing enough for interference.

 

The new recruit would stare in open-mouthed disbelief when Agent Carter and Agent Thompson would bellow at one another in the middle of the office. The rest of the agents went about their work as if nothing was happening.

At first, he wondered how Agent Carter dared talk back to a superior officer. Then, as he came to understand that Carter by all rights was  _the_ superior officer, he wondered why Thompson would yell at a woman he so clearly respected and admired.

Then he thought maybe it was because the two talented agents had very different methods when it came their work. Finally, after a few more months on the job, he realized that it was because they were evenly matched. They were both gifted agents (Carter extraordinarily so) who wouldn’t bother to confront anybody else in such a manner. Agent Carter’s vocabulary and moral compass might mortally wound, and Agent’s Thompson’s sneer might bristle, but no one else would dare to truly go head-to-head with either one of them. You don’t enter a boxing ring as a ten-time reigning champ and give it all you’ve got against a rookie.

He mentioned as much to a colleague at the bar later that night, who shook his head and said, “They’re just blowing off steam in the only way appropriate for an office.”

The new recruit, stung to have missed this, said waspishly, “My theory’s more substantial.”

**Author's Note:**

>  tumblr 


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